


I Knew You Were Trouble

by bubblegumkitsch



Series: Deep In The Heart [1]
Category: Demi Lovato (Musician), One Direction (Band)
Genre: F/M, Texas
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-05-26
Updated: 2013-05-26
Packaged: 2017-12-12 23:53:06
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,541
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/817512
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/bubblegumkitsch/pseuds/bubblegumkitsch
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>From the moment Niall Horan stepped foot in Texas, he’s had the whole place under his thumb. Demi hasn’t even met him yet, but purely based off of the information flying through the rumor mill, he must be something special.</p>
            </blockquote>





	I Knew You Were Trouble

From the moment Niall Horan stepped foot in Texas, he’s had the whole place under his thumb. Demi hasn’t even met him yet, but purely based off of the information flying through the rumor mill, he must be something special.

When Demi was bagging at the grocery store the weekend before school started, she heard old lady Wills say he arrived in a private plane straight from London. Then when she was trying on outfits for the first day of school at Penny’s, she heard Jenna and Tammy, both notorious gossips, gushing about how handsome he was. From what Demi could gather he’s at least six feet tall, slender, with golden blonde hair and sparkling baby blue eyes and “god don’t you just love a guy with an accent?”

Honestly, it’s like the people in Denton have never met anyone from outside of Texas before. They’re so starved for culture, they have drop everything anytime anything remotely foreign comes around. Town operations nearly shut down for a week when that new gelato place moved in on Main Street. 

Demi doesn’t have time to think about this new addition. She’s already got too much on her plate. Sure, some fresh blood will be nice, shake things up a bit. But really, if she’s going to be student council president by junior year and land the lead in the musical and get into the National Honor Society, she’s really going to have to kick it into high gear this year. No time for distractions, even cute Irish (or was it Scottish?) ones. 

The first day of sophomore year finally arrives and Demi is ready as usual. She’s already buzzing from the smell of fresh notebook paper and how wonderfully pristine her binder looks all color coded and ready to be filled with new knowledge. 

Demi takes her seat front and dead center ten minutes before first period starts. She waits patiently, obsessively straightening her book and pen just so on the desk while people slowly start trickling in from the hallway. Most people fight for the prime seats at the back of the class by the doorway, already planning their inconspicuous getaways halfway through third period so they can sneak off campus for lunch. 

The room fills up, growing louder by the second as friends catch up on gossip from the summer, which is pretty impressive considering most of them stayed here over summer. Demi’s actually quite curious what could have happened between church on Sunday and Monday morning class that could have the whole room so antsy with anticipation. 

“Maybe they changed their minds,” she hears someone say quietly, “maybe they’re going back already.”

The shouts quickly cut to whispers as a someone enters the room. Demi’s decided to get a head start on the history reading, so doesn’t notice when someone sits down next to her. She looks up to see a slouched figure, already slumped down casually into his chair, long wiry arms extended with his fingertips tapping lightly at the edge of the desk. 

Demi laughs when she sees his shoulders, lobster red and already starting to peel. 

“What?” The boy squints, eyeing her curiously.

“Looks like you got some sun, that’s all,” Demi smirks.

“Well no one bothered to tell me that I was gonna be dropped into the middle of Satan’s scrotum,” he sighs, seemingly unaware of the nearly twenty sets of eyes now staring at him from around the classroom.

“Well that’s August in Texas for you,” Demi shrugs. “For you, I’d say...probably no less than SPF 50 for the first summer. Your skin’ll get used to it by October, I reckon. Unless you plan on staying inside all day. Which might actually be a wise course of action.”

His face falls. “October? Jesus, how long does this last?”

“You’ll see. And I’d also recommend you take that off before Mrs. Jones comes in,” Demi grabs at his head and he tries to duck but she’s too fast for him. “She’s a stickler for dress code.”

Demi hands him the cap as he tries to straighten up his hat hair. It falls immediately to his forehead, sticking there in sweaty pieces. So this is the dashing gentleman the whole town has been all a-flutter over for the past few days? Demi’s seen better.

“Name’s Niall by the way. ‘M from Ireland, in case you were wondering.” Demi stares blankly back at him. “...about the accent?”

“Okay, Irish, class is about to start so look sharp and don’t bother me.” Demi straightens in her seat when she sees the teacher enter the room, leaving Niall scratching his head in bemusement. 

About halfway through class Niall scribbles something on a scrap of paper and slides it over to Demi. She’s been burned enough times to know better than to open a note passed to her in the front row of class. She leaves it in its place and continues to listen attentively as Mrs. Jones goes over the syllabus. She can feel Niall looking over at her expectantly but she refuses to play into it. Not today. 

A few minutes later and Niall writes something else and passes it over as Mrs. Jones has her back turned, writing a few notes on the blackboard. Niall elbows her but she just scoots her chair away a bit. Niall sighs exasperatedly beside her, earning him a pointed look over the shoulder from the teacher. 

The notes continue to come, scrap by scrap, but Demi still doesn’t flinch. Eventually, Niall might as well be writing a novel. He folds the sheet of paper gingerly and drops it on her lap. 

“Don’t you have anything better to do?” Demi hisses, crumpling up the paper and shoving it over into Niall’s chest.

“Something you’d like to share, Miss Lovato?” Mrs. Jones asks. Demi can hear whispers and giggles behind her, but luckily, just as she’s about to stutter out an answer, the bell rings. Demi grabs the books and scraps of paper now strewn over her desk and flies out the door. When she arrives at her locker she takes a moment to look at the white scraps before she tosses them. 

They’re not in any sort of order but from what Demi can tell the first one she looks at must have been one of the later notes, just based off of how many exclamation points there are.

‘What’s ur name!!!!’ Demi rolls her eyes at his poor spelling and misuse of punctuation. 

She scrunches it up and tosses it into the black abyss of her locker, somehow already stuffed to the brim with paper and books, and unfolds another one ‘Never got ur name’ followed by ‘This class is boring. What’s ur name?’ and ‘You look like a Jessica. Jessie? Jess?’

Demi saves the biggest sheet of paper for last, unfolding it carefully. She scans the page and laughs to herself. Her eyes graze over the frantic chicken scratch. ‘I feel like we’ve gotten off on the wrong foot. Was it the “satan” thing? Was it the scrotum thing? I say dumb stuff when i’m talking to cute girls ;) Was it the accent thing? I’m sorry for assuming you didn’t know it’s just it’s the only question i’ve been asked since I got here. Thank you for your concern over my sunburn I’ll be sure to take your advice under consideration. Niall xx’

“Jesus Christ,” Demi sighs to herself as she throws the paper into her locker. He might as well have just written “PAY ATTENTION TO ME” in giant letters across the paper and saved himself the embarrassment. 

“So it wasn’t the Satan thing then?” A warm breath ghosts against the back of Demi’s neck, making her jump and drop her armful of books all over the floor. 

“No” Demi says, voice clipped, crouching down to pick them up. She meets Niall’s eyes. “And my name’s not Jessica.”

Niall grins, clearly enjoying the chase more than he should. “Okay then ‘not Jessica,’ what do your friends call you?”

“Friends call me Demi.” She accepts her geometry book from Niall when he extends it out to her. 

“Demi, huh?” Niall crosses his arms across his chest, surveying her carefully.

“What’s wrong with Demi? I guarantee you it’s better than Niall. I’m not even sure that’s a real name.” 

“You caught me,” He grins. “Real name’s Ralph.” 

“No, it’s not.” Demi can tell he’s laying it on thick, but, unfortunately for him, she’s immune to this sort of charm. 

“You’re right, it’s Niall. You are so smart. I knew there was a reason I sat next to you today. It’s destiny.” Having successfully shoved Demi’s books back into her locker, they start walking down the hall, Niall trailing slightly behind as she walks forward stone-faced. 

She whips around suddenly, locks of caramel brown hair whipping Niall in the face as she does. “What do I have to say to you to get you leave me alone?”

Niall looks like a sad puppy as he takes a step back. “Sorry, I just thought that we could be friends. Heard all about this Texas hospitality and I--”

“Don’t bring Texas into this,” she interrupts.

“Well, I just figured since it was my first day, and you really look like you run this place, you might be willing to help me get my bearings, but I guess I’ll find someone else.” Niall starts to back away, hands thrown up weakly in defense. 

“Wait,” Demi grabs a handful of Niall’s shirt as he dramatically tries to evade her grasp, “Look it’s not that you don’t seem like a good guy or whatever. Actually, I have no idea if you’re a good person or not, I barely know anything about you other than that you have atrocious spelling. But I just get so in the zone on the first day of school and you’re throwing me off.” 

Niall really is pitiful. Or if not pitiful then definitely a genius. One baleful look later and somehow Demi and Niall are off down the hall again, a bubble within the hustle and bustle of the first day. Demi’s still concentrated on making it to her next class on time and Niall’s still concentrated on Demi. They’re in another wing of the school entirely before Demi looks over and asks, “Wait, why are you even following me here? Not to be rude, but I’d be pretty surprised if your next class is AP Physics as well.”

“Shit, you’re right.” Niall fishes a crumpled sheet of paper out of his front pocket. “Any idea how to get to…E 108?” 

“Oh, Lord, you’re not gonna make it on time.” Demi was willing to humor Niall during the walk to class, but now she really doesn’t have time for this. She peeks through the classroom door and notices the prime seat real estate at the front of the room has already been occupied by a gangly body and a set of springy blonde curls. _Taylor._ Of course. 

Demi turns back to Niall just in time to see a familiar face walking briskly towards them. “Oh, good! Selena, you’ll be headed in the same direction as Niall, I think? East wing?”

“Yep!” Selena chirps, eyes widening with recognition as she looks at Niall, then Demi, then Niall, then her compact, then Niall again. “You must be that new foreign exchange student I’ve heard so much about.” Selena flashes him her flirtiest grin and Demi really doesn’t know how this is her best friend. 

“It’s not so much foreign exchange as my parents moved us here on account of my mum and dad’s work at that new tech-something-or-other in the next town over, but sure,” Niall offers.

“Mum?” Selena beams. “Demi. Do you year that? _Mum!_ Oh my god, that might just be the most precious thing I’ve ever heard.”

“Keep it together, Selena,” Demi warns. 

“Right, east wing? Me too! Bet you’re in English with me. We’ll sit next to each other. This’ll be perfect, you have to tell me everything. How long was the flight in? Is it hard to understand our accents? Not gonna lie I think I’m gonna have some trouble with yours. God this is so exciting, don’t you worry about a thing. I’ll take you under my wing for the day.” It’s really amazing that Selena was able to get all that out in one breath.

“Yeah, um, ok,” Niall looks back at Demi curiously, as Selena drags him by the arm down the hallway. 

“See you at lunch, Dee!” she calls down the hall, and Niall looks pleadingly back at Demi, struggling to keep pace with Selena. 

 

The next few classes are fantastic. By the time lunch rolls around, Demi is so caught up in that first day high, she almost forgets about this morning. Until she gets to the cafeteria. When she walks in the first thing she sees is a mass of people huddled around one of the tables. Selena pops up from crowd and gestures wildly for Demi to join her.

“Saved you a seat!” Selena plops back down and pats the plastic chair next to her, “Niall’s just been telling us everything about Ireland!” 

“Fascinating, I’m sure.” Demi sits down cautiously. She’s directly across from Niall who is going on animatedly in a much thicker accent than he had this morning about “real football” and some place called ‘Nanna’s’ or something. 

By the time lunch is over, Niall has everyone under his spell. Taylor is almost sitting on his lap and even Liam ventured over from his usual spot over by the lunch ladies to listen. 

“Well this has been fun, but I’m afraid I must be going.” Demi scoots back out of her chair, bumping into at least seven people as she makes her way to the cafeteria doors. 

“Demi, wait up!” She hears Niall call behind her, but after checking her watch she keeps walking.

“Keep up!” Demi barely turns her head to reply but in a few short leaps Niall has already caught up. 

“Hey, I was wondering...do you wanna show me around later?” Niall looks hopeful. “Not that Selena didn’t tell me loads of stuff, but I’m sure there’s more exciting stuff around here than the mini-mall and Kel’s diner.”

“There really isn’t.” 

“Well,” Niall hums, “might be more exciting if you showed it to me?”

“Look, I don’t know why you’re so intent on getting me to hang around with you. I wish I had the time to show you around, I really do, but I’m already swamped.” Demi finally arrives outside the choir room and turns on her heels to face Niall, who’s stuffed his hands in his pockets dejectedly.

“Okay, okay, I’ll leave you alone,” he concedes. But as Demi looks into his eyes before backing into the room, she can tell he won’t. She can tell he’s trouble. Because she can tell that no matter how hard she tries, Niall Horan will be one hard fellow to shake off. And because something in those soft blue eyes of his, something about his eyelashes and that little scrunchy thing he’s doing with his nose, makes her hope he won’t ever stop following her around.

**Author's Note:**

> Lots more to come! Hold tight :)
> 
> Thank you Kimmie as always for making it appear to the world as if I actually speak the English language xx


End file.
